Abstract
Ethics is a common subject in Communication Studies. However, the approaches frequently focus on professional and practical issues and draw arguments from normative or deontological theories. This paper, grounded on Lévinas’ ethics of alterity, proposes that the concept of communication implies ethical concerns, insofar as its necessary addressing to others, having as its presupposition the openness and the possibility of accepting and hosting otherness. The argument develops threefold, as there are at least three main requisites to communication ethics: (a) openness and hospitality to the other; (b) the infinite responsibility towards otherness; (c) proximity and interpellation of the other’s face as the starting point of communication. The idea is not to propose another “Ethics for Communication”, but to understand Communication as an ethical action.
Keywords
Ethics; Communication; Alterity